The return of a mask stolen by Belgium is stoking violence in Congo

Whenever a Belgian king takes an interest in the Congo, history looms large. In the late 19th century King Leopold II turned the territory into a giant slave plantation, murdering, raping and slicing off limbs in a ruthless bid to profit from its resources. So when Philippe, Belgium’s current king, visited the Democratic Republic of Congo in June 2022, he did so in the spirit of atonement. He wanted to open a “new chapter” in the two countries’ relations, he said, and handed over a precious wooden carving known as the Kakungu mask, one of thousands of cultural artefacts looted from Congo that Belgium has promised to give back.

Alas, violence seems to have followed Philippe into the Congo like Leopold’s ghost. In the same month that he visited, ethnic conflict broke out in Kwamouth, a district just north of Kinshasa, the capital. It pitted the local Teke people against their neighbours, the Yaka and the Suku. The Kakungu mask is venerated by both the Suku and Yaka as an ancestral symbol of war. They believe it confers magical powers on their fighters, making them invulnerable to bullets and giving them the ability to disappear. These attributes had helped their ancestors resist colonisation.